


Nothing at All

by averacity



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Additional Tags May Be Added, Angst, Angst and Feels, Davenport-centric (The Adventure Zone), Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, F/M, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, I think?, Light Blupjeans (not a focus but it's there), Memory Loss, POV Second Person, Spoilers for Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, Temporary Character Death - The Stolen Century (The Adventure Zone), and tarot cards, aromantic Davenport, i was having feelings about Davenport ok, i'm sorry it just felt right, the author has a questionable understanding of Euchre
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 21:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29690493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/averacity/pseuds/averacity
Summary: “You alright, Dav?” Merle asks, peering up warily from behind his hand of cards.“Yeah,” you say, teeth gritted. “It’s nothing.”-     -In ten seconds, you lose everything.-     -Or: a series of vignettes exploring Davenport's life before and through the Stolen Century set in the immediate aftermath of the voidfishing.
Relationships: Barry Bluejeans/Lup, Davenport (The Adventure Zone) & Everyone, IPRE Crew | Starblaster Crew & Davenport, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Kudos: 2





	Nothing at All

Absentmindedly, you study the cards in your hand: The Magician Reversed, Justice Reversed, The Moon, The Hermit Reversed, and Death. 

Damn. You frown. This is your tenth bust in a row. Ninety-nine years, and you have yet to win a round of Euchre against Merle. 

“On the count of three,” says Merle, his eyebrow raised in a manner that suggests he too is expecting an easy victory. “One, two, three!” 

Reluctantly, you flip a card onto the table. And another, and another, until all of the cards make their way to Merle’s pile. 

“Another win for Merle!” he proclaims proudly, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Man, you better start making some money on this planet soon. At this rate, you’re gonna be paying off your loser’s debt to my great-great grandkids.” With a deft flick of his wrist, he expertly shuffles the deck and deals out a new hand.

For a while, you remain silent. “I’ll, uh, get on that.” You mean to laugh.

You don’t. 

“You alright, Dav?” Merle asks, peering up warily from behind his hand of cards.

“Yeah,” you say, teeth gritted. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s just... strange,” you start at Merle’s dubious expression, “that we have to start caring about stuff like that again. Money, jobs… the future. You know?” 

He does. 

“Gods, I- I think it’s my birthday.” Your throat tightens. “After a century, I’m turning forty for the first time in my life, and… I don’t know what to do. I don’t even…” Taking a deep breath, you pause. 

“What do _you_ want to do, Merle, now that this is all over? How do you want to _live_? Please,” your voice wavers, just slightly (but it’s enough), “please, just tell me.”

Merle meets your eyes, pensive. “You know what I’d like to do?” he says finally. “I’d like to move to the beach. You know why?"

You do, but you shake your head anyway.

“Because with the ocean, the scenery is always changin’. And I want the scenery to always be changin’, man.” He sounds desperate, almost. 

Yes, you are quite familiar with the feeling. All of you are. Your journey has instilled in you a certain restlessness, a constant need for variety, for change, for... anything. 

“I don’t wanna be lookin’ at the same thing all the time.” Merle’s eyes light up as he smiles for the first time in weeks. Though he tries his best to hide it, every single report of destruction caused by the Gaia Sash chips away at his positivity without fail (it's eating him alive).

“I wanna see a million, billion shells, I wanna watch the rain come sweepin’ in." Chuckling, he shakes his head. "That’s, that’s the life, right there,” he says wistfully. “Change it up, man! Keep it interesting!”

You smile softly. You were never much of a beach person (you don’t particularly care for sand) but you’ve always loved the ocean. “That sounds nice,” you say.

"What does?"

You blink once. Twice. “What?”

“What does?” says…

Says…

You don’t know.

You don’t know, you don’t _remember_ , something is wrong, everything is wrong, wrong, wrong. You drop the cards in your hand (cards you don’t remember picking up in the first place). Lurching out of your chair, you stumble across the floor, searching for something— _anything_ —familiar, but your surroundings are hazy and distorted and you can’t even perceive where you _are_. 

Someone is muttering incoherently behind you. It’s the man who was sitting at the other side of the table ( ~~the man you know, the man who turned to smoke in front of you, the man you journeyed with for a hundred years~~ ). He’s shaking, his hand clenching the table’s edge so tightly his knuckles turn pallid. When he looks at you, he might as well have punched you in the gut for all the pain it causes. His face is contorted and his eyes are wide with terror, meeting your own in an anguished plea for help. Something inside of you shatters, the jagged fragments of emotion brutally carving your heart from your chest, and you _don’t. know. why._

Everything is slipping away, and you’re slipping too, down to the floor, with a sickening snap. You can’t _breathe_ and it hurts, everything hurts (everything is leaving you, everything is almost gone).

Desperately, you cling to the memories still in your mind with all that you have left (so very little, now, but something is taking your family from you, your home from you, your _life_ from you, and you can’t lose that, you can’t). 

The last thing you hear haunts you; the weight of it drags you down and swallows your mind completely as it’s swept away like a pebble flung into the sea. 

“Who _are_ you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> Some dialogue was taken directly from Episode 66 (with a twist).
> 
> The complete fic will likely work out to be 11 or 12 chapters, depending on how I decide to format the ending. I anticipate that the next chapter will be up sometime next week; I am trying to give myself a buffer of a few chapters so that I can update at least somewhat regularly.
> 
> While I have been writing fanfiction for a while now (mostly for myself) this is my first time sharing any of my work. The concept for this fic just wouldn't leave my brain, so I *finally* decided to go for it. 
> 
> Feedback, comments, and kudos are always appreciated! 
> 
> Have a lovely morning, afternoon, or evening!  
> -averacity


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